Modern automotive vehicles are commonly equipped with systems that provide enhanced performance and/or control of the vehicle, such as anti-lock brakes, traction control and stability control. These systems typically monitor the rotational speed of each of the vehicle wheels to determine the onset or occurrence of wheel slip. Generally speaking, the sensor for each wheel includes a rotating component, such as an exciter ring or slotted disk, that rotates with its associated wheel and a stationary component that is fixed to the vehicle in a stationary position relative to the rotating component. In one common arrangement, the rotating component is captured or coupled to an axle shaft via a bearing retainer, while the stationary component is fixedly coupled to an axle shaft housing in which the axle shaft is rotatably housed.
While the foregoing arrangement is known to work for its intended purpose, we have found that it is none the less susceptible to improvement. Specifically, this arrangement has heretofore required extremely tight tolerancing of the threaded portions of the bearing retainer and the axle shaft to ensure that the rotating component is centered about the rotational axis of the axle shaft. This tolerance (e.g. 4H5H class threads) is known to be relatively costly to produce.
Accordingly, there remains a need in the art for an improved arrangement for mounting the rotating component of a wheel speed sensor to an axle shaft.